Thank you, Gen. Pace. Donnelly didn't follow up on his question, so I will,
trusting that your answers to my questions will represent your core beliefs,
stated on earlier occasions. Gen. Pace, how does your Feb. 17 statement apply
to a situation in which troops are ordered to use certain weapons?

Pace: "[T]hey will be held accountable for the decisions
they make. So they should in fact not obey the illegal and immoral orders to
use weapons of mass destruction."

Now what about the commanders that receive orders from their superiors?

Pace: "I believe that a lot of the commanders, in fact,
do recognize that they do have a free choice in this, that they should not execute
orders that are illegal and immoral, such as any order to use any kind of a
weapon of mass destruction."

But aren't commanders supposed to follow orders from their superiors, including
the president and the secretary of defense?

Pace: "They can still not commit crimes against humanity.
They can still not execute any kinds of orders that might tell them to use weapons
of mass destruction."

And will these choices affect their future?

Pace: "[T]hey still have very clear choices to make, and
their choices will have major impact, both on the troops who look to them for
leadership right now and on their own personal fate when this is all over."

And Gen. Pace, do you trust U.S. servicemen and women to do the right thing?

Pace: "I think that there are Iraqi soldiers out there who know what is
right and who will in fact disobey illegal and immoral orders."

Oops, wrong soldiers. Nonetheless, no one should doubt that if Pace trusts
Iraqi soldiers to do the right thing, he will trust American soldiers to do
the right thing.

Conclusion: The chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff has warned everybody in uniform that if they execute an
illegal or immoral order or they instruct their subordinates to execute an illegal
and immoral order involving the use of any kind of weapon of mass destruction,
they are derelict in their "absolute responsibility," and consequently
fully responsible for the "crimes against humanity" resulting from their choice. You obey your orders at your own risk. This
includes every soldier and commander in the U.S. armed forces. It includes you,
Gen. John Abizaid. Thank you, Gen. Pace.

I don't know Abizaid personally. He may be a good family man and care
for his pets. But he has stated, "Why the Iranians would want to move against
us in an overt manner that would cause us to use our air or naval power against
them would be beyond me," and in the same breath, "If you ever even contemplate
our nuclear capability, it should give everybody the clear understanding that
there is no power that can match the United States militarily."

Abizaid and Cartwright will get their orders from the ugly ones at the top:
Bush [1], [2], Cheney [1], [2], Rumsfeld [1], [2], [3], with the advice of the other "nuclear warriors" [1], [2]. Cartwright, Abizaid, and everyone below them should
listen to Pace: "It is the absolute responsibility of everybody
in uniform to disobey an order that is either illegal or immoral."

The conviction that nuclear weapons are immoral is shared by most human beings
[1], [2], [3], because such weapons cause an immense amount of indiscriminate
destruction. It is obvious to most rational people that once the nuclear genie
is out of the bottle, there is no return. No matter how small the next nuclear
weapon used is, there is no line dividing small nuclear weapons from large ones,
and escalation can rapidly lead to loss of life in the millions. Therefore the
fact that a small nuclear weapon would cause a limited amount of destruction
does not exclude "low-yield" or earth-penetrating nuclear weapons directed against
facilities from the category of WMD, and hence from the category of illegal
and immoral weapons.

There should be no doubt in anybody's mind that when Pace refers to "any kind
of a weapon of mass destruction" as being illegal and immoral, he includes all
nuclear weapons, and that if American servicemen and women consider orders regarding
nuclear weapons illegal or immoral and act accordingly, the vast majority of the country will stand behind them and
support them.

What Are Service Members' Responsibilities?

If you believe that nuclear weapons are illegal
or immoral or both, which orders concerning nuclear weapons are illegal or immoral
and should be disobeyed?

Beyond the service member's absolute responsibility to disobey illegal or
immoral orders, it is also arguably his/her responsibility to discourage and
even prevent others from following illegal or immoral orders. In connection
with prisoner abuse, Pace stated, "It is absolutely the responsibility of every
U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene
to stop it." When his own boss, Donald Rumsfeld, contradicted him, "But
I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to
report it," Pace stuck to his guns, responding, "If they are physically
present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation
to try to stop it." And indeed, the Pentagon later confirmed that Pace's statement, not Rumsfeld's,
was the correct one.

Similarly, it is a logical conclusion that if a U.S. service member has an
absolute responsibility to disobey illegal or immoral orders concerning weapons
of mass destruction, he/she would also have an obligation to try to stop others
from following such orders. For example, a service member witnessing the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons [.pdf], even if he/she
is not directly involved in the action, would have a moral responsibility to
act to try to stop it. Actions that one should contemplate to stop others from
following illegal or immoral orders could involve persuasion, whistleblowing,
and even physical intervention.

Even Rumsfeld has urged men and women in uniform (albeit Iraqi
ones) to disobey orders to use weapons of mass destruction, and has stated that
"it will be no excuse to say: I was just following orders." Take these
urgings to heart.

Consequences for People in Uniform

Deciding whether an order is illegal and/or immoral
can be difficult. Yet that is not an argument in favor of obeying orders, because
obeying illegal or immoral orders is a choice that has consequences. The following
principles of the Nuremberg tribunal are relevant:

"I. Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under
international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment."

"IV. The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government
or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international
law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him."

"VII. Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war
crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principles VI is a crime
under international law."

In the Nuremberg trials, 207 defendants were tried and 161 found guilty of at least one charge. Among the charges
listed in Principle VI are "waging of a war of aggression," "wanton destruction
not justified by military necessity," "committing acts of devastation,"
and "violations of the laws or customs of war." High- and low-ranking government officials, senior and junior commanding officers were tried and convicted.

"The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act
which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person
who committed the act from responsibility under international law."

Consequences for Civilian Officials

Principle III of the Nuremberg tribunal states:

"The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime
under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official
does not relieve him from responsibility under international law."

Many high-ranking government officials were indicted and found
guilty in the Nuremberg trials. These included the deputy head of state, the minister of armaments,
the minister of foreign affairs, the chief of the High Command of the Armed
Forces (OKW) (who translated the head of state's ideas into military orders),
the state secretary in the Foreign Office, the chief of intelligence, the state
secretary in the Ministry of Interior, the chief of the Planning Office in the
Armaments Ministry, members of the Ministry of Justice, and many others.

Could Cheney, Rumsfeld, Hadley, Joseph, Cambone, Brooks, Crouch,
Bolton, and others in the administration face a similar fate? Principle VI of
the Nuremberg tribunal includes as a punishable crime "participation in a common
plan or conspiracy" to commit proscribed acts. Those government officials have in common that they advocate
aggressive nuclear policies and promote the development of new and more usable
nuclear weapons. In their role as decision-makers, planners, and advisers to
decision-makers, they will be culpable if the U.S. uses nuclear weapons against
Iran.

The United States' use of nuclear weapons against Iran, even small ones, could easily lead to escalation of the conflict and to the
use of larger nuclear weapons, and even to the possible involvement of other
nuclear weapon states. It could result in hundreds of thousands, even millions,
of deaths. The American people have not been asked whether they support courses
of action with such potential consequences. They will hold government officials
that play a role in these events responsible for their actions. So will the
rest of the world.

The Morning After

Judgment and punishment may not come immediately.
Depending on how events unfold, it may take a while until the enormous significance
of what was done sinks in.

Nuclear terrorism against the U.S. will become enormously more likely after
the U.S. used nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear country in a war of aggression.
Arguments to justify the U.S. action, invoking the necessity of preemption, will ring hollow. There are many
"loose nukes" around, and one of them may well find its way
into an American city, well before Iran or any other "rogue" country manages
to enrich enough uranium. Recall that no "chemical terrorism" against the U.S.
has ever occurred, despite the fact that there are plenty of chemicals around.
Terrorists seem to have a twisted logic that only weapons used by the
U.S. are worthy of being used against the U.S.

Whether or not nuclear terrorism occurs against the U.S., there will be a
general sense in America that "we have it coming" if the U.S. nukes Iran. Sooner
or later there will be a sea change in the American political landscape and
in the public mindset, as there was in Germany after 1945. The pendulum will
swing, and a new pacifist administration will abhor these events and seek to
punish the perpetrators, if only to restore some furbish
to America's image in the world.

A global nuclear war can lead to the death of every human being on this planet.
World War I and World War II killed 10 million and 60 million human beings respectively,
many more than anybody had anticipated before the wars started. Nuclear weapons
are a million times more powerful than the weapons used in WWI and WWII. We
have a National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction,
so let us also combat our own WMD!

Using a single small nuclear weapon against Iran will start the
ball rolling, a snowball that will roll downhill, gathering more mass and speed
and momentum as it races toward the abyss, engulfing every human being in its
path of unimaginable destruction, culminating in darkness, death, and extinction.